


Another Story

by HovercraftOfEels



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, i don't know this got away from me, outlander!theron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 20:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14961914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HovercraftOfEels/pseuds/HovercraftOfEels
Summary: In a different timeline, Theron Shan was on Darth Marr's flagship.





	Another Story

She writes him five letters. It ends up being one for every year, but Captain E’cho, the outlaw hero of the Republic doesn’t really keep track. They aren’t strictly spread apart or on any anniversary, but she can’t help trying to reach out, hoping one day that she’ll hear something. Anything.

She misses him, and as the galaxy finds itself cornered by an enemy they didn’t even know existed, she writes to the man she lost, trying to keep up hope and more or less managing it.

Ari E’cho had always had a surplus of hope, if nothing else.

The first is a mess, typed in the first month after the Zakuul attacks begin as she’s crouched in the corner of her freighter after dropping Corso of on Ord Mantell. He always was a farmboy at heart, and she’d given everyone on her crew the option to go protect their home.

She just hadn’t expected to feel so alone when they’d all taken it. Sending a message to a ghost seemed like a perfectly good idea after half a bottle of Corellian brandy.

_To: Theron Shan_

_I was too late._

_I came out of hyperspace as the ship shattered and I know that they’re saying you killed their emperor but I can’t believe that you’re dead I just can’t you can’t be I won’t believe it._

_Please get this. Please send me some sign that you’re still alive. They’re attacking everything, their tech isn’t like a damn thing we’ve ever seen before and we’re trying to fight back but I’m so tired._

_And I miss you. So much._

+++

The next time she writes, she’s just lonely.

Her freighter had been seized by Saresh’s forces at some point, claiming they needed to conscript the ship but not her captain. Ari had fought tooth and nail against the authoritarian edict but like so many privateers she found herself in drydock anyway. The galaxy was starting to fold, unable to keep pushing back as resources became more and more scares and people became more desperate.

So on a quiet night in a corner of a cantina on Sullust, she wrote out a message she knew wouldn’t be read but sent anyway.

_To: Theron Shan_

_Everything’s gone to shit._

_I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You’re either gone, or probably in a lot worse shape if they have you in some Zakuulan prison. They claim you’re dead, but they never produced a body like they did with Marr. I actually ran into Grandmaster Satele in the middle of a firefight on Alderaan and she said that she would have felt it._

_But she didn’t._

_I want to believe you’re alive, and so I do. But that doesn’t stop me from wishing that you were here, Theron. Because the galaxy is on fire and half the people setting them are claiming to be on our side. I’m not saying you’d be the one able to put them all out, but at least then I wouldn’t have to be trying alone. My crew is scattered, I can’t track down Lana, and wherever you are, I can’t get to you._

_Wherever you are, please stay safe. You know me. I’m not giving up._

+++

That same night it just doesn’t take much for the sad drunk to take over.

_To: Theron Shan_

_I miss you. There was so much that I should have said, because like some kriffing idiot I thought we’d have time. And maybe we still do, but it doesn’t matter while Zakuul insists that you’re dead and I’m still here. The Jedi claim we all end up one with the Force, and maybe that’s where you really are but I’m tired, Theron. I’m so tired, and wherever you are, I wish I was there with you._

_I miss you so much it hurts._

_I should have told you. I was so afraid of being hurt, and well. Look how that worked out._

_Ari_

+++

Another year passes, and Ari E’cho watches the major powers fold like a sabbac dealer and hand the galaxy over to Zakuul. The Republic gets corrupt, the Empire gets soft, and neither title is accurate anymore. Inertia sets in for so many people, hope all but snuffed out in most corners of the galaxy.

Ari does what she does best, operating in the shadows that are more or less everywhere. She isn’t just making sure that goods get places, she’s running people, soldiers, weapons. There’s a target on her back, but it’s hardly the first time.

That’s when she runs into Lana Beniko.

_To: Theron Shan_

_You’re alive._

_Lana knows it for sure, just not how to get to you, but you’re alive and frozen in carbonite and Theron, I am going to find you. We’ve got a plan, a plan to push back against these jackasses and take the galaxy back._

_I’m coming for you, Theron. Just hold on a little longer._

+++

She knew he wouldn’t get it until much later. Later when they were hopefully somewhere safe and he was in her arms, checking his datapad after years away. He’d smile at her, and it would all be worth it.

Ari sent it anyway. They were both hopeless romantics.

_To: Theron Shan_

_Lana has a plan. We’re on our way. I know you won’t read this until we’ve got you out, but I have to tell you, just in case something goes sideways._

_I love you. And I will see you soon._

_Ari_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm toying with the idea of writing a multi-chapter about Theron as Outlander. Not as Commander but as the one in carbonite. I don't know, this was just a plot bunny I figured I could indulge. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
